History of MMZ “Vpered”

1931
The plant №3 (as it was named originally) was founded in March 1931 by the order of the Chief of the Military Construction Administration of the Red Army. Originally, the basic activity of the enterprise was the production of wooden pipes for pipelines of that day and various construction components: doors, baseboards, etc.. Since 1933, the plant started the production of high-quality furniture, including the orders of Council of People's Commissars and of the Red Army.

1941
However, the Great Patriotic War (which started on June 22, 1941) became the reason for the plant to sharply change the assortment of its products. First, the enterprise was transferred to the People's Commissariat of the USSR Aviation Industry, and in August 1941 it was renamed to “State Plant №383 NKAP”. It began manufacturing single-block wooden propellers and wooden blades for variable-pitch propellers for aircraft of domestic (“U-2”, “PO-2”, “Yak-6”, “R-5”, “LAGG-3”, “Il-2”, “TB-7”) and foreign production (“Rotol”, “Spitfire”, “Hurricane”). For the years of the war, more than 6 000 sets of blades and 40 000 single-block propellers were manufactured. The production of combat aircraft was impossible without them.

1945
The plant started production of wooden blades for wind power plants “VISHOM-3,5”. The unit had a wind-driven propeller 3.5 m in diameter, installed power of a generator – 1 kW. It was intended for lighting and radiofixation of a single-family house in regions without electricity. The industrial growth continued due to mastering the production of “V-501” & V-“509” propellers. They were designed in the Experimental design bureau №383 for light-engine transport, training and sports aircraft.

1948
The plant started the production of the “V-501” propellers. In the following years the manufacturing of “B-509”, “B-514”, “B-521”, “B-525”, “B-530”, “B-536” continued. The model “B-530-D35” was the best. It was designed to handle with the “P-2” regulator and the “M-14” power generator on the “Yak-18” plane. It provided high-thrust fighter and power response. The propeller was launched in mass production in 1957, but it’s still in operation and in mass production at the present time! As well as the aircraft and the power generator, the “V-530-D35” propeller had a number of design improvements that increased its reliability and resource. Today, the modification of the “V-530TA-D35” propeller is being mass-produced. It is used on the “Yak-18, “Yak-50, “Yak 52, “Yak-55 and “Yak-55M” aircraft.

1951
From this year onwards, the plant's activities are inextricably associated with the development of helicopter aviation in our country. As soon as the Soviet Union started mass production of the “Mi-1” helicopters (in Kazan at the plant № 387, now -- Kazan Helicopter Plant), our enterprise got the order for manufacturing anti-torque propellers. This is because we already had all the necessary equipment and considerable experience in the production of propellers with wooden blades. In the future, practically all the helicopters, that left the Mil's bureau, were equipped with helmets of our production.

1962
The first transport-combat helicopter “Mi-24” took its maiden flight. In comparison with the “Mi-4” helicopter, it had better characteristics of weight and speed. The propeller for it was designed by the designers of Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant with a principally new scheme, including a universal link of the head on the shaft of the tail gearbox. The propeller’s blades have a composite construction: metal spars and fiberglass aft body filled with honeycomb corestock of aluminum foil. The plant “Forward” began manufacturing the 8-3904-000 propellers in 1966.

1963
The plant was renamed to “Moscow’s machine-building plant “Forward”.

1969
The first “Mi-8” helicopter took its maiden flight. It is equipped with a 246-3901-000 propeller that differs from a 8-3904-000 propeller in the direction of rotation and the operation principle. The 8-3904-000 propeller is pusher, the 246-3901-000 propeller is tractor. Their components have the same dimensions and are mirroring each other. In 1981, the anti-torque propeller 246-3904-000, designed in Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant for the “140”, “240”, “80 MT” helicopters, was launched into production. It differs from the 246-3901-000 in wider blades (246-3925-00). The plant produced more than 40 000 anti-torque propellers for “Mi-8”, “Mi-24” helicopters and their modifications. The serial production of these propellers still goes on.

1978
The largest Russian helicopter, “Mi-26” took its maiden flight. The mass production of the blades for it (90-3924-00) was started in 1981. Their design has a range of new solutions. Practically all the metal elements in it were replaced by the fiberglass and titanium ones.

Present time

Currently, we continue the mass production of propellers and blades for them for helicopters produced by the experimental design bureau named after M.L. Mil. We mastered the repair of used propellers and blades, and expanded the options of the service backup. The program of guarantee support of used propellers is realized in our plant. We take them apart, analyze all the defects and repair them. The price of repairing includes the blades’ cost & the cost of repairing the head. It is much cheaper than buying a new propeller! It entirely meets the interests of customers, because one hour of operation of the repaired propellers costs cheaper than one hour of operation of the new ones. The repair of propellers is profitable for the plant as well.

Currently, we work according the licensing agreement with the company “MT-Propeller” from Germany for production propellers “MTV” (“MTV-9-В-С/CL250-27”, “MTV-9-В-С/CRD200-15”, “MTV-9-В-С/CRD250-27”, “MTV-9-В-С/CL250-27-01”) and for light aircraft (“Su-26MH”, “Su-29”, “Yak-18T”, “Yak-54”, “Yak-55”, “Yak-58”, “Lightning-1”). Our plant is the main provider of “MTV-9” for domestic small aircraft.

We provide the planned replacement of the anti-torque propellers for the “Mi-26” helicopters. Besides, we execute the orders for manufacturing of the 90-3924-00 blades.

The first order for the manufacture of a set of 6 meters long blades we executed in 2000. This is how we confirmed our status as a pioneer in wind power engineering in our country.

high-resource spineless shafts for transmissions of support equipment for the “TE-10” and “M-62” diesel locomotives of all their modifications;

torque pumps for transfer fuel;

— and much more.

The combat helicopter “Mi-28”, designed by designers of Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and prepared for mass production at the Rostov Helicopter Plant, must take a rightful place in the aviation of the Armed Forces.

The MMZ “Vpered” prepared the facilities for the manufacturing of “286” propellers for this model of helicopter and is ready to start its mass production. The “Mi-26” helicopters with propellers of the first issues will require replacement in the coming years. The plant is already receiving orders on replacement of used 90-3924-00 blades. The designers of Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant design the new “Mi-38” helicopter. Our plant will produce the propellers for it.

Besides, we design and prepare the facilities for the manufacturing of the propeller “BB-9” with thin-profile blades made of organic plastic. These blades are designed for training “SU-49” aircraft. The “MTV-9” propellers can be widely used in light-engine aircraft. In the future our plant is supposed to become the main supplier of “MTV-9” blades for domestic small aircraft.